Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-01-06
A CASE OF DOUBLE.

I doubt If the records of crime furnish
q more curious case than that OF Arthur
Foxen. 1t occurred seventy five years
ago, and do not wish at this late day
to revive it to the modification of rela.
tives who were in no wise to blame for
his wild career. l will therefore not
name the State in which the singular
events were enacted, though many read.
ers will name it for themselves.
had been sheriff of - county
about six months when one morning, an
hour before daylight, farmer rode up
to the jail residence and aroused me with
the information that murder had bsen
committed at farmhouse about six
miles away. In fifteen minutes l was
ready to return with him. The neigh.
borhood in which the murder occurred
could be approached by two different
roads from the county seat As l wanted
to stop at the house of one of my depu.
ties. we took the other road from which
the farmer had come. We were three
miles from the scene of the murder, and
were riding at o gallop, when q man in
the road right ahead Of US on horseback
flung himself to the ground, climbed the
roadside fence, and made run across a
wide meadow toward piece of woods.
OF course, the action aroused our sus-
picions. was armed. while the farmer
was not. l left him to care for the three
horses, and was in chase of the man be.
fore he had passed from sight. He was
not q swift runner, while was fair
one. l began to gain on him at once.
and he was hardly half way across the
meadow when he heard me SO close be.
hind that he halted, wheeled around and
fired at me with a single. barreled bull
dog pistol, carrying a bullet almost
large enough for q musket. l was not
over twelve feet distant, but he missed
his target. had come to halt and
had my revolver in hand, but did not
like to fire upon him in return. When
he saw that I was untouched by his
bullet, he flung the empty pistol at my
head, drew q murderous looking knife.
and called out that he would not be
taken alive. went within six feet OF
him and demanded his surrended, but
he made rush at me, and l was com.
PEELED to fire at him in self-defense. The
bullet struck his right wrist and passed
through it, and he dropped his knife
and staggered like one shot in the body.
Twas in on him in second or two, and,
without waiting to discover how seri.
ouoly he was wounded, l bore him down
and put on the handouts.
The victim Of the murder was an old
farmer named Stevens. His wife said
she was awakened about 2 o'clock in the
morning by noise in the room, and as
she sat up in bed she saw dark lantern
ON the bureau and man searching the
drawers. He turned towards her, and
she screamed out. Her voice aweke her
husband, and he was getting out of bed
when the intruder rushed at him and
stabbed him twice with knife-the
same he had threatened me with. The
husband fell back to die almost instantly,
aud the wife was so overcome with
terror that she could not remember what
happened in the next five minutes
When she came to, the hired girl was
standing over the bed with light in
her hand.
Itwas only after he had been convicted
and sentenced to be hanged that strange
phases began to crop ont. He had care.
fully concealed his identity. He had
given the name of Arthur Foxen, but we
did not believe it to be his right one.
He refused to give his residence or the
name of his parents. and defied us to
find out. During his trial q woman
named Newhall, Of Cincinnati, saw and
Unidentified him as her son. A week
later man and woman from Louisville
identified him as their son, and said his
name was Martin Benson. The prisoner
what they professed to be, and they
could not be convinced that there must
be mistake.
The next strange thing was the appa-
rent death Of the condemned. I look ed
into his cell one day and found him, as !
believed, stone dead. A doctor was
called, and he said it was q case of heart
disease. In about twenty hours Foxen
suddenly returned to life, refused to
answer any questions and called for aud
ate hearty meal. was to have the
keeping of him about seventy days be-
fore his sentence would be carried out,
and was naturally worried over such a
slippery fellow. As the Jail contained
only two other inmates, put Foxen in
q corridor by himself. Five or six days
after his restoration to life was sitting
alone in the front Office, busy at some
letters, when heard soft footballs in the
corridor. Just as rose up, Foxen
s.,,cbaI v.o.% .vnxy Jaov nd Nut Nf a ri1a
door, but as the Jail was surrounded by
o high wall he could not get away. I
led him back by the ear, and to my
utter astonishment found the corridor
door as firmly secured as when left it
at noon. It was doubly locked and the
heavy bars were only three inches apart.
1 searched Foxen for key, but he had
nothing, not even bit of wire or stick.
To unlock that door required key
weighing six ounces, and boy IL years
of age could have scarcely turned it.
How did he get out? Answer the ques-
tion for yourself. 1 never could, though
I devoted hundred times the thought
to it that you will. To question him
was useless. He simply preserved 81
lence. After that put death watch
on him--a trusty man, well armed.
In a couple of weeks Foxen died
again. This time l called in four or
five of the leading doctors. His heart
had ceased to beat, his pulse was gone
and his face took on that palor which
only death can bring. An electric bat
terry was tried, but it producsd no effect.
The limbs became stiff aud rigid, and
pins were thrust into the sOles OF his
feet without bringing q Vince. Every
physician staked his reputation that 1t
was case of death, and I went after